


Steady

by Tospringe



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, This fic depicts an unhealthy boss employee relationship that might be considered abusive, maybe avoid reading it if that's not your thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26009233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tospringe/pseuds/Tospringe
Summary: Sometime after opening "Little Etho's Little Music Box" together, Beef and Etho's friendship shifts into something that's not quite healthy anymore. While Beef and Keralis' rivalry escalates, Etho gets caught in the crossfire.
Relationships: Etho & Daniel M. | VintageBeef, Etho & Tango Tek (Video Blogging RFP)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 82





	Steady

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I know that Etho and Beef are great friends in real life, and I'm not trying to imply anything about them or their relationship with this fic. You can consider this entire fic an AU of their working relationship with Etho's noteblock service. I just thought it might be interesting to explore what it could be like if all of Beef's little traps actually hurt, and what that might mean for Etho and Beef's relationship. Also, this fic was largely written before Beef's ep came out in which he confronts Etho about the free glass delivery, so it starts to seriously diverge from the canon storyline from that point onwards.

Etho was working on his nether base when he got the message from Beef. _Hey Etho, got time for a meeting soon?_ Apprehension grew in his stomach as he read it. There was no reason for it, it was only Beef, but still. Etho was suddenly grateful he was building his nether base a few thousand blocks away from the man.

 _Sure, meet up tomorrow afternoon?_ He replied, even though he wanted nothing more than to say no. It was probably just another gig, he reasoned with himself. Nothing to worry about, just a song order, things were fine between him and his boss.

Since when had he started thinking about Beef as his boss?  
  


—  
  


Etho had known accepting Sandy would come back to bite him in the butt at some point. He’d imagined he’d be hired to kill like, Keralis again, or something. The snitching order was an unexpected move on Beef’s part, though.

“Ugh, I mean if it’s a favor, I got no choice, right?”

“Yeah, you agreed to it when you accepted Sandy.”

“Right.” So sad.

“And just to show you, just to show you I’m serious…”

For some reason, Beef put on a llama mask. A trap of some kind must be coming.

“Oh does this fall or something?” Etho asked, looking down at his chair. But it didn’t fall. Etho had no time to react before a screaming pain shot through his head, which quickly spread down to his neck and back. He fell out his chair as it broke, where it was joined by the remains of what seemed to be multiple broken anvils.

“What was that for?!” Etho’s sight grew dark and fuzzy from the pain.

“It was just a warning! I didn’t want to kill you, I just wanted to hurt you.”

“Oh my goodness, I took my helmet off and everything Beef, that was scary.” Not to mention unnecessary. Etho had already agreed to Beef’s terms, he didn’t think some trolling Beef had signed up for himself warranted this kind of treatment, honestly.

“Did it do any damage?”

“What do you think? I’m feeling like I could respawn any second!” It started to feel likelier every second too. Etho had to grip the back of his chair to keep himself from keeling over.

“Really? Wow!” Beef seemed oblivious to Etho’s plight. “I dropped three anvils on you. Anyway, this is a wonderful business agreement we have here. Feel free to take any noteblocks you need from, from my store. For your project.”

“So I’m not getting fired?”

“You’re not getting fired, no. And you’re not getting murdered apparently. Apparently three anvils isn’t enough.”

Etho straightened himself with some difficulty. “I’m tough like that.”

“Right. Well, see you around Etho. Good look with the song and stuff.”

“See you, Beef.”

It took incredible focus for Etho to walk without swaying when he left Beef’s office. Once out of the door and out of Beef’s sight, he steadied himself on a wall, working to regain his balance. The taste of blood swirled in his mouth.  
  


—  
  


“Knock knock?” It was the afternoon after Beef had messaged Etho in the nether, and he was waiting before his office once more.

“Etho, come in! Come in.” A jovial sounding Beef called out from inside the office. Etho attempted to swallow away any leftover hesitation and opened the door with a smile.

“Beefers! How you doin?” He walked forward, halting next to his seat, uncertain if he was free to sit down.

“I’m doing great, I’m doing great. Sit down Etho, please, sit down.” There was a sharpness in Beef’s voice and eyes that Etho had come to expect from these meetings. It didn’t help settle his nerves. Still, the employee took place on the uncomfortable metal chair as instructed.

“I like the llama banner! Very yellow.”

“Thank you!” Beef replied enthusiastically, loosing his edge for a second. “I’m very happy to have it, finally.”

“Soo, what’s this about?”

“Ooh, I think you know what this is about Etho.” Beef’s voice dropped, and the edge was back again, although Etho had no idea what he was talking about.

“Umm, no, I don’t think so.”

“Don’t play dumb with me Etho. We had an agreement! Snitches get riches! I thought you were happy!” Beef was growing more agitated with every word.

Etho was completely lost now. “That’s right.”

“And still you don’t uphold your end of the deal. So ungrateful.”

“Beef. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

This seemed to snap something in Beef, and he pressed a button behind his desk. By now Etho had learned that meant to dodge out of harm’s way, but as he jumped sideways his body slammed into a barrier that wasn’t there before. Iron bars had shot up around his chair, effectively trapping him in place.

“Beef?” Etho laughed nervously. “What are you doing?”

“What I’m doing is I’m keeping you here until you confess that you betrayed me. For Keralis of all people!”

Etho just blinked at him in non-comprehension.

“I see you’re not ready to talk yet. Give me your picks and your communicator. We’ll see how you’ll feel after a few hours on this uncomfortable metal chair.”

“Beef. Come on. This isn’t funny anymore. Let me out.”

“It stopped being funny when you betrayed your best friend for the enemy. Now give me your stuff or I’ll splash you with poison potions until you comply. Don’t think I won’t do it.”

Etho knew not to doubt that threat. He reluctantly grabbed both his picks and his communicator and threw them over the iron bars. “Come on Beef, can’t we talk about this? Like friends?” He tried pleading one last time.

“We’ll try that again later. I truly hope you’ll be more compliant by then Etho. For your sake more than mine.”

With that, Beef walked out of the office. Etho was left alone, trapped, and uncomfortable.   
  


—  
  


The second time Etho left Beef’s office with less health than he started with, maybe he’d had it coming a bit more. Keralis had put in his song order however many weeks ago, and Etho had no significant progress to report on. The trouble was: the order was absolutely massive. A four minute song would take well over 500 noteblocks if you weren’t smart about how you made it. So Etho decided to be smart about it. Analyzing the song and coming up with useful redstone trickery took a lot of time however, and Etho was still in the planning phase when he got called in by Beef.

Still, he hadn’t been hanging out with Beef a lot lately so Etho looked forward to the meeting nonetheless. The anvil trap wasn’t stocked, at which Etho breathed a silent sigh of relief. He didn’t much favor dealing with the headache he nurtured for days after their last meeting again.

The two quickly returned to their usual banter. While Beef tried to chide Etho for the delay on Keralis’ order, it wasn’t hard for Etho to get the upper hand in the conversation. Things turned around at the end of the meeting, however.

“Do we have an understanding?”

“Yes.” Etho relented.

“Okay. To show you I’m serious-“ Beef put on his llama mask again and Etho had a fraction of a second to dread what was coming. This time, he got splashed with a poison potion. The feeling of fire surged through his veins as his muscles seized up.

“Ah!” Etho cried out, although he tried to play off the effect of the poison. “Come on! There was no anvil, you showed me!”

Beef just laughed. “There wasn’t, there was no anvil. I just wanted to poison you for a little bit, and give you extreme slowness.”

As Etho gained some control over his muscles again he quickly turned around and left the office. “The best boss, the best boss.” he called over his shoulder as he left on unsteady feet. Again, Beef only laughed in return.  
  


—  
  


It had been hours since Beef had left Etho alone in his office. His neck and back had grown stiff and painful, with no comfortable positions to stretch his muscles out. He was also starting to feel quite cold. The office was intentionally built underground to remain cool, and the metal chair leeched any remaining heat from his body. Etho shivered as he hugged his knees to his chest. It couldn’t be long before Beef returned now. They just needed to clear up this misunderstanding. Then Etho would be able to return to his warm jungle base and curl up in his bed, forget this whole thing ever happened.

Still, no footsteps sounded from behind the door, no matter how much Etho strained his ears to listen for them. Only the soft bleating of the sheep in Beef’s corridor distracted him from his predicament.

Time stretched on, and Etho ate the last of his golden carrots. He was shivering uncontrollably now, quite sure that night had fallen outside. Any remaining heat had left the office now, and it got as cold as a desert at nighttime. As his stomach rumbled, Etho couldn’t stop a few tears from rolling down his cheeks. Exhausted, he fell into a restless sleep.  


—  
  


The meeting after getting poisoned Etho called himself for a change. He was going to turn this bad streak around. He’d finished Keralis’ order and negotiated for payment himself. The customer was grateful, and it was a massive job well done.

Beef didn’t seem as pleased as Etho had hoped however. He was pretty caught up in his neighborly feud with Keralis, and seemed almost disappointed when Etho told him Keralis was happy with his work. Whatever. That was between the two of them, and Etho had no intention at all of getting caught up in any of that drama. Snitching on Keralis signing Beef up for Shade-E-Es was the furthest he was going to take it, and that was only because he’d promised Beef he would.

When Beef threw him the piece of ancient debris Etho flinched away at first, not knowing what kind of painful trap was coming his way now. The “riches” were a relief to find instead, though it felt a bit wrong to be rewarded for his snitchin. Oh well, money over ethics right? Etho had put enough effort into Keralis’ massive song order that he felt he had some leeway there.  
  


—   
  


Etho woke from his sleep at the sound of the office door closing behind him. Beef’s footsteps sounded down the long office, and Etho blearily opened his eyes as Beef appeared in front of him, sitting down on his desk instead of his chair for a change.

“Etho? Oh wow, you look terrible.”

Etho only blinked in return.

“Sorry for leaving you here all night. I was working on a building in Three Fox Hole, and everything looks so good there in the dark, you know how it is. Then it got too late for me to fly back safely, so I just caught some Z’s there.”

Etho remained silent, shivers starting to wreck his body.

Beef bit his lip, looking uncomfortable. “Hey, so, uh, I guess this is enough punishment for the glass delivery. Let me get you out of there, alright?”

It took a second for Etho to process that statement. “The glass delivery?” he asked, voice scratchy from disuse.

“Yeah, you know, the free glass? It’s fine though, as long as you promise not to do it again.”

“I didn’t deliver any free glass.”

“What?”

“Don’t know, don’t know how you got it, but I, I had no part in it.”

“Oh my Gosh. Really? I’m so sorry! It must’ve been Keralis then, the sonuvabitch. I should’ve known.”

Etho remained silent.

“Oh Gosh and I locked you in here all night. I’m so sorry Etho. Here, let me get you out.” Beef started hacking away at the bars as Etho leaned back in his chair, letting his eyes close shut again for a moment. So it was Keralis that framed him. Guess his resolution to stay out of that drama had been in vain.

“Etho? You’re free buddy. Can you get up?”

Etho opened his eyes at that, looking straight into Beef’s concerned face with no bars between them anymore. Beef hesitantly moved towards Etho to help him up, but Etho flinched away from his hands.

“Umm, I’ve got your items here.” Beef said offhandedly as he handed Etho his picks and communicator. Etho accepted them without looking Beef in the eyes.

“You sure I can’t help you?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” He stretched his legs and pushed himself out of the chair. Shivers wracked his frame again at the sudden movement, and he steadied himself for a second. Beef once again moved forward to help, but Etho dismissed him with a quick wave of his hand. He walked out of the office once more, now for the final time.  
  


—   
  


He wasn’t sure how he’d made it to his base, but the next time he opened his eyes was in his bed, placed down in some random walkway in his base. His communicator buzzed next to him with incoming messages. He checked the last one.

_Tango: i’m coming over to your base. you better be there_

Oh crap. Etho quickly scrolled down to see what he’d missed. Tango had started messaging him the day before about the minigame district, the messages growing a bit frantic the longer Etho didn’t answer. He’d sent some messages in the group chat as well if anyone had seen him, but all the answers were negative. Looks like Beef hadn’t had it in him to reply with the truth.

The sound of rockets firing announced Tango’s arrival. He called out for Etho before he quickly found the bed Etho was hiding in.

“Etho! Where have you been man, I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday.” As Etho struggled to think of an answer, Tango took a good look at the little of Etho that was visible above the blanket. “Oh crap, you look absolutely horrible. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Etho dismissed his concern. “Just a little tired.” He began shivering once more, feeling cold despite the smotheringly hot environment. His stomach growled as if to underline the point.

“Like hell you are, you look like you could keel over at any second. Here, let me grab you some food at least.”

Etho nodded gratefully at the offer as Tango handed him some steak. Etho pushed himself up on his elbows, and after some slight hesitation Tango supported him to sit upright against the wall. With trembling hands, Etho slowly worked down the food.

Tango patiently waited until he’d finished the steak before speaking up again. “What happened to you man? I’ve never seen you sick like this before.”

“I’m, I, I don’t know if I should gossip about it to be honest.”

Tango frowned. “Telling the truth isn’t gossiping man. It’s really only right.”

Etho sighed and looked down at his hands. he pulled his knees to his chest and cocooned himself as best he could in his blanket before speaking again.

“It’s Beef.” He started. Tango moved away from him in surprise. “Things have been weird between us ever since we started up the music box thing together. Yesterday he trapped me in his office for the afternoon and night cause he thought I’d broken an agreement with him, but it was just a misunderstanding. I mean, it’s fine, really, just a prank that got a bit out of control. Not his fault”

“It sure sounds like his fault.” Tango had gotten up, angrily pacing back and forth. “He’d locked you up in his office? Did he at least give you a bed or something?” Etho’s lack of an answer seemed to tell him enough. “Damnit!”

“Tango, please, I’m fine now. It’s alright.”

“No it’s not! Damnit Etho you gotta stand up for yourself!”

Etho flinched at his loud voice, shrugging his shoulders. “It’ll be fine. I’m just gonna, gonna drop out the music business for a bit I think. Stay away from Beef for a bit, give our friendship the chance to reset.”

“I’d like to do something more to him.” Tango growled under his breath.

“Tangoo. Leave him alone.”

Tango rolled his eyes and sat back down next to Etho. “You know I will. I’ll just smother you with affection instead.”

Etho couldn’t help but laugh at that.  
  


—-  
  


It was a month and a half later when Etho sent a message to Beef, asking if he wanted to meet up. They agreed to meet in front of the town hall, a neutral place.

“Hey Beef.” Etho smiled warmly at his friend. Despite everything, he had missed him.

“Etho.” Beef breathed out. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good, I’m great. Been making the money, grinding the grind, you know it.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Very glad.” Beef paused for a second. After Etho had regained some of his strength after the incident Beef had apologized profusely. Etho accepted the apologies, but had requested some space regardless. 

“Wanna try to start over?” Beef asked.

“Let’s try.”


End file.
